Some of the UK’s biggest fast food chains have been caught up in a scandal after a report there were traces of poo bacteria in drinks.

Drinks from ten random branches of McDonald’s, KFC and Burger King across the UK were sampled by BBC Watchdog, and found to contain coliforms, which indicate that something has been contaminated by bacteria.

Coliforms were found in 3/10 branches of McDonald’s samples, 6/10 samples at Burger King and 7/10 samples at KFC.

And four of the samples taken at Burger King and five at KFC were described as having ‘significant’ levels, reports the Liverpool Echo .

Zero is the acceptable level of coliforms in products destined for human consumption.

Watchdog again consulted Tony Lewis – Head of Policy and Education at the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health – on the findings.

Speaking on the programme, he said: “It’s extremely worrying. When we’re finding the sorts of numbers we’re finding here, you have to look at the people making the ice, handling the ice, which they then transfer into customers’ drinks.

“And then you also have to look at hygiene failure with potentially the machines themselves: are they being kept clean?”

Video Loading

Video Unavailable

Click to playTap to play

The video will start in 8Cancel

Play now

A KFC UK spokesperson said: “We are shocked and extremely disappointed by these results. We have strict procedures for the management and handling of ice, including daily and weekly inspections and cleaning of the ice machine and storage holds, as well as the routine testing of ice quality across our business.

“We immediately shut down the ice machines in the restaurants affected to conduct a thorough clean and inspection, and reinforced the importance of adhering to our strict procedures to all employees.

“The restaurants all have an Environmental Health Officer (EHO) hygiene rating of four or five out of five, and we are awaiting the results of independent testing of the ice that will confirm they are back up to the standards we expect.

Read More

“To reassure customers we have also inspected and cleaned the ice machines in all other restaurants across the UK.”

A spokesperson for McDonald’s said: “We have robust procedures in place with regard to the production, storage and handling of ice in our UK restaurants. Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people and we will continue to review our procedures and training, working closely with our restaurant teams to ensure those procedures are adhered to at all times.

“Hygiene and safety practices are of the utmost importance to us and we’re proud that 99% of our restaurants have an independent hygiene rating of either good or very good.

“Like many UK food retailers, our ice is made by freezing drinking water using commercial ice machines.

“As the investigation highlights, there are no specific ice production standards in place, only those relating to unfrozen drinking water. We would therefore welcome the introduction of an agreed standard and would be happy to work with relevant industry bodies.”

A Burger King spokesperson said: “Cleanliness and hygiene are a top priority for the Burger King brand.